Seven Years
by Miss Pookamonga
Summary: Songfic based on Norah Jones's Seven Years. Suzy contemplates the change Arthur has brought to her life, some old memories, and inner emotions. Pretty sad, but please R&R. Oneshot.


_Dear Readers, _

_I'm listening to Norah Jones right now and this idea just popped into my head. It's a songfic about Suzy based on the song "Seven Years" by Norah J. Kinda sad...the song is sad. Hope you like it. Please read and review--but no flames! Thanks!_

_Best regards from a Bookworm,_

_Miss Pookamonga :-)_

_AND SUzy (who's crying now b/c this fic is so sad)_

**Suzy:** Sniff!

**Me:** It's okay. It's not that depressing.

**Suzy:** Speak for your--_sniff_--self!

_Spinning, laughing, dancing to_

_her favorite song_

_A little girl with nothing wrong_

_Is all alone_

When he left, she felt alone again. She often felt alone, but she was never going to admit it to anyone. For a long time--for hundreds of years--she'd been terribly alone, separated from her fellow friends and deprived of all her memory. She had been lost and somehow wandering through her life as if in a dream, that is, until Arthur came. For the first time in ages, she had a friend, and she could remember things--remember things from her old life back on Earth. Arthur cared about her. He'd said on the Improbable Stair that he wouldn't leave her behind, and he never had. She felt safe with him somehow, protected by his bond of friendship with her. Before he came, she had been a nobody, just a Piper's child who was forced to run errands and fill ink bottles for her elders, the Denizens. But when he came, she had a reason to be Suzy again instead of giving up and letting the Denizens assimilate her into their dull, unloving way of life. There was something about him that made her feel more than that insignificant little girl she had once been. There was something about him that made her remember her old life. And that was why she helped him--because in his own way, whether he knew it or not, he had helped her.

_Eyes wide open _

_Always hoping for the sun_

_And she'll sing her song to anyone _

_that comes along_

There was one memory that kept creeping into her head constantly. Others would come and go like a passing breeze, but this one would return and stay for a while, carrying her off to that distant land and time where she had once been her happiest. She was a little girl, spinning in circles among the grasses of the open meadows, singing a song that she recognized now, but had long forgotten the words to. The sun's rays danced around her, making her feel like she was dancing with what the townsfolk called pixie faeries. Sometimes her Dad would come and pick her up, twirl her around, and dance with her too. Her Mum would sit among the grasses and watch, her eyes gleaming with joy at the sight of her little girl. Then they would head back into town, and she would dance around outside with her friends, singing and smiling to every passerby. And all the people said that she was a little angel, and that her voice could brighten even the darkest and gloomiest town. And even when she sang and danced by herself, she never felt alone, because she had her song, and she had the smiles of those she had made happy.

_Fragile as a leaf in autumn_

_Just fallin' to the ground_

_Without a sound_

She didn't know what had happened to that song. When the plague had come, she had kept on singing, but somehow the song's light faded, and all the people she knew never smiled again. She tried so hard to make the sun shine the way it had before by singing her song, but the only light she could see was the orange glow from the fires that burned the dead to ashes. Then, her Mum and Dad had begun talking in low voices, mumbling about some minstrel called simply by the name "The Piper." She hadn't understood any of it. Mum had then one day taken her to the meadows where she had once sang so cheerfully, and she had thought that the old times had returned again. But Mum had left her there, had kissed her and hugged her and sobbed over and over that she loved her, then left, with tears streaming down her face. Suzy had always thought her Mum would return. But she never did. Instead, the Piper had wandered into the field, playing his enchanting tune on his flute that beckoned to the children to follow him. There were so many children there, some her friends, others she had never talked to before. But as the tune had drifted through the air, she forgot all about her Mum and Dad and singing in the meadows, and all she could see was a door in a hill that she passed through before all went dark.

She had always been a tomboy, but she missed being that little angel singing in the meadows and in the town. She missed making people smile. When Arthur had come, she almost felt as if she could sing again--as if she could remember that old song and sing it by heart. But she never did because he never stayed for very long. And whenever she was away from him, she felt alone again--isolated in a dark world where everyone looked down at her as if she were some despicable bug. She felt imprisoned by her lonliness far too often when he was gone. But she had always been too embarrassed to admit how badly she needed him, how much her heart longed for him to be there and rescue her before she drowned in her aloneness. Sometimes she didn't understand why she built up this wall of toughness and never once stepped out from behind it. She didn't know why she tried to be invincible instead of admitting her weakness. Sometimes she thought that it was because she didn't trust anyone in the House because no one cared anything for her (except maybe Monday's Noon) and would only toss her and her emotions aside. But she trusted Arthur, and even trusted his friend Leaf a bit; why couldn't she tell them how lonely she was? Why was it so hard to admit that she was vulnerable?

_Crooked little smile on her face_

_Tells a tale of grace_

_That's all her own_

At times, when she wasn't busy doing her duties as Monday's Tierce, she would find some isolated spot to just sit down in and play all her good memories over and over in her mind. That way she could be absolutely sure she would never forget them again. And that way, she could still tell herself that there was hope that someday, she would remember the words to that song. And that she would be able to sing it forever until the sun sank below the horizon for the last time. She had been doing that ever since Arthur had come. He was in many of her good memories, because she felt something for him that she couldn't explain. Her Mum and Dad were in most of her memories too, and so were her old friends and the meadows and the sunrays that looked like pixies. But no matter how many times she replayed those memories in her head, she never felt as if she was going anywhere. She would almost catch the words to the song, but they would flutter away as fast as they had come, just like little butterflies. And she feared that she really would forget everything. Forever. And that she would always, no matter what, would be alone with no one to hold her, to smile at her, to sing and dance with her. When she felt that way, she always couldn't help but cry...

_Fragile as a leaf in autumn_

_Just fallin' to the ground _

_Without a sound_

...Because she felt as if she was nobody again.

_Spinning, laughing, dancing to her_

_favorite song_

_She's a little girl with nothing wrong_

_And she's all alone_

_A little girl with nothing wrong_

_And she's all alone_


End file.
